Electrician's are more or less constantly faced with the problem of "cutting-in" metal boxes so as to not make an oversized or undersized or tilted opening, leveling them so that the switches and receptacles to be attached thereto are not skewed, arranging two or more receptacles or switches or combinations of the two in properly spaced relation to one another to receive the trimplates, and to perform other simple installations requiring everything to be square and level for aesthetic reasons s well as practical ones.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention has to do with a combination level, template and alignment tool specifically designed for use by electrician's in the installation of outlet boxes, switches and plug-receiving outlets either alone or in ganged relation, and the trimplates therefor.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,733,513 to Gatineau, 4,126,944 to Burkhart, and 4,622,753 to Jones et al, all disclose the broad concept of combining a spirit level with a template of some sort for cutting openings for outlet boxes or leveling switches and trimplates. While Gatineau shows how his template is to be used to double the size of the outlet box opening, neither he nor the other inventors provides for using one plug-receiving socket or toggle switch that has been installed and leveled as the means for installing a second one in properly spaced relation to receive the trimplate.
A German Patent No. 812273 also uses a template and spirit levels for aligning two or more plug-receiving outlets in side-by-side or vertically-aligned relation. It has pockets in its rear face that receive the projecting sockets and feet that engage the surrounding wall surfaces that tell whether the sockets are mounted flush or not. The template is apparently only used to check the final alignment and not to properly align and space the receptacles in the first instance.
One final group of patents need to be considered and they are the U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,116,563 to Gelbman, 3,123,918 to Crabtree, and 3,279,080 to Stepshinski, all of which disclose combination templates and spirit levels for use in installing wall switches and receptacles that incorporate some kind of physical connection between the part being installed and the template that is used during the actual installation procedure. Both Crabtree and Gelbman provide double-faced templates useful in mounting either switches or sockets; however, nothing is said about the templates being useful in ganging the elements being aligned, providing a template for making the hole in the wall that receives the outlet box, ganging dissimilar elements or performing other leveling and alignment tasks as an electrician is called upon to do.